


Missing Pieces

by Leonawriter



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Carrying On, Gen, Left Behind - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-04
Updated: 2015-07-04
Packaged: 2018-04-07 13:30:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4264980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leonawriter/pseuds/Leonawriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life after the battle royale was like constantly waiting to be told the worst hadn’t happened. And she kept missing pieces she wasn’t able to replace.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Missing Pieces

Waiting. That was what her life had been turned into, now. Waiting, and being left behind.

In a way, it was rather like the times when Masumi watched her father cut gems, beautifully faceted, but then told her that for this one, the one she'd been waiting to see, she had to wait. Outside. Go to school, go play with her friends. He couldn't be disturbed.

How could she know if he was all right? How could she know if the gem was cooperating? What if there was a fault, and she wasn't there to help?

That was what it felt like. She hated it. So, so much. She was fourteen, not four now. She could  _help_.

And she had. Or she'd tried to. She was sure she remembered doing things - great things, terrifying things, duels of life and death. The thing was, the memories were fuzzy now, and she couldn't put all of the pieces together when she needed them, like scattered remnants lying on the floor that never matched up, because the main part was gone, gone to a better place.

It had always been her, Hokuto and Yaiba. Always. They'd been singled out as the top of their respective classes, top of their year. Someday they'd be the best, they were told. They'd make a great team. Usually, they'd all scoffed - what, them? The best, sure. But a team? With how much they fought amongst themselves, with Yaiba's rashness and Hokuto's over-confidence?

She hadn't expected to worry like she's started to. After all, Hokuto's gone. She has the feeling someone knows where, but all of a sudden, she doesn't know who to ask or where to go.

That was bad enough. Bad enough with her just barely able to keep herself together and pretending that everything was fine, and Yaiba twitching about all the time and losing his temper at the slightest things.

Then everything else happened all at once, like an avalanche of bad luck. The screens cutting out. The announcement of war. Yuzu was out there, she'd been in the battle royale, but she hadn't come back.

 _We are at war now,_ were the words echoed from person to person, whispered and said in-between the lines. In among everything they didn't say. 

Wars had casualties. They all knew that, or they wouldn't be called a war.

No one spoke of how few people had come back, the chosen Lancers. It just wasn't done. People were donning their armour, finding weapons in forgetfulness and hope, and that was all well and good, but-

What about Hokuto? What about Yuzu? 

She'd seen a face, once or twice, that looked like it might have been her, but it was off, not right. She'd even tapped the girl on the shoulder,  _certain_ this time that she was mistaken in thinking that the girl who'd beaten her was gone too.

The reception she'd gotten was cold, unfeeling. To this girl, despite looking like Yuzu, she was a complete stranger.

She'd apologised, and backed away.

 _You IDIOT,_ she wanted to say, sometime later, sometime when she wasn't overcome with barely disguised embarrassment.  _You won. You did. You beat me fair and square. You should've come back!_

They both should have. Both of them.

The idiot that'd been like an annoying brother to her, and the idiot who'd beaten her, showed improvement, showed her music in a duel.


End file.
